TARQTJINIA. 193

that it could be cleaned away, and should be done.
I almost think he said something of placing a door
even yet at the entrance, and not allowing foreigners
to remain there alone, and I hope I am right; for
obliterating or defacing such paintings is surely
depriving the public of historical monuments which
are of inestimable worth.

It appears unaccountably strange that these
tombs should be so neglected under the rule of a
prince who has founded the Gregorian Museum, yet
true it is, that for the degree of preservation in which
any of them remain, we are indebted to Carlo
Avolta, who has done as much as any private indivi-
dual could do for that end, by furnishing them with
locked doors, and setting over them a custode.
Agapetowasthenameofthe man who conducted us.
a most civil obliging contadino, with much native
wit and observation, and a very considerable know-
ledge of antiquity. We found him far superior to
the guides at Chiusi, whom I shall hereafter men-
tion, and it is a great advantage to strangers to meet
with such a man. Guides to ancient ruins or
remains ought always to be appointed by authority,
and to receive a sort of education for their post.
In many instances this has been done around Rome;
especially at Tivoli and Adrian's Villa, and I know
nothing which adds so much to the pleasure of the
expedition, or the interest of the spot,

GHOTTA DEL TIFONE.

The last Tarquinian tomb that we visited was the